Caregivers Perceptions about Discussing Children’s Weight: A Pilot Study

Felicia V. Swinney*, William F. Vann Jr, Paul Mihas, Jacqueline H. Burgette, Alice Ammerman and Jessica Y. Lee

Caregivers Perceptions about Discussing Children’s Weight: A Pilot Study.
Childhood obesity poses serious health problems, many of which have life-long
repercussions. A major gap in current knowledge relates to caregivers perceptions about the role
of the dental team in the provision of weight-related counseling. Our aim was to address this
question by obtaining in-depth information regarding caregiver’s perceptions about the role of
the pediatric dental team in healthy weight-related counseling.

Theoretical saturation was obtained at 15 interviews, with two central themes emerging. Caregivers were highly receptive to and expected the dental team to provide cariesrelated nutrition counseling and generally receptive to healthy-weight counseling, while emphasizing that rapport/compassion would be key for effective communication.

Previous investigations have shown that pediatric dentists have concerns that
they may offend caregivers by broaching the topic of weight-related counseling. In this pilot
study, we found caregivers expressed respect for the dental team’s knowledge of weight and
valued a compassionate approach in the context of an established rapport.

Once seen mostly in adults, obesity now affects children in similar proportions.
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported
recently that the prevalence of childhood obesity has doubled over
the past 30 years in children ages .

In recent years the dental profession has shown a willingness to venture outside the realm of traditional oral health concerns through participation in tobacco cessation counseling
and the monitoring of blood pressure.8-10

It seems clear that the most efficient and likely dental practice model would be to incorporate healthy weight counseling within the context of preventive dental care and anticipatory guidance. As early as 2005, Glick advocated that dentists take a role in weight-counseling.

Dent Open J. 2015; 2(2): 47- 54. doi: 10.17140/DOJ-2-110

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